"We would imagine that everyone who wants to see improvements in the care for children would be frustrated at another delay.

"We do recognise that national service change on this scale is a complex undertaking and we offer our full support to work with NHS England and other stakeholders going forward to ensure the benefits of whatever long overdue changes to children's heart services are necessary to provide the best possible service children and their families."

– Professor Terence Stephenson, chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges

The president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Dr Hilary Cass, says the need for reconfiguration has never been more urgent - and as today's IRP report states and the Health Secretary reiterated, the status quo is not an option.

"It is encouraging that NHS England has been tasked with devising a plan to take forward the review quickly. Decisions around complex issues such as reconfiguration will always involve some difficult judgment calls and hence be open to challenge, however robust the process.

"It's important to identify and acknowledge where there have been shortfalls, but we cannot let the problems with this particular process stall further what is crucial for ensuring safe and sustainable health services for children."

– Dr Hilary Cass, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

NHS England welcomed Jeremy Hunt's decision to suspend planned closures of three children's heart surgery units and promised to lead plans to rethink how care can be improved.

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director for NHS England said:

We welcome the review and NHS England will now study its recommendations in full to learn from them. We will institute a new process that recognises the very strong case for redesigning services to meet the demands of the future whilst addressing the legitimate concerns in our local communities.